Contributing Editors:
    Andrew Muollo
    Arlene Arlow
    Dave Bodnarchuk
    Barney Stone

Welcome!

Tax season is over! and we hope the Easter bunny left you all kinds of goodies in addition to the end of tax season!

Easter Trivia - Compliments of Dave Bodnarchuk of skOOchie
Easter is celebrated on the first Sunday that occurs after the first full moon on or after the spring equinox.  Easter can occur as early as March 22 or as late at April 25.

The Easter bunny originated by the celebration of the goddess, Eastre, whose earthly symbol was a rabbit.

The Easter egg is a symbol of fertility and new life. Easter eggs were painted in bright colours to represent spring and given as gifts.

In this Issue
Welcome to the end of tax season and the beginning of a "normal" work schedule!   We realize that you are all tired and exhausted; so we've tried to keep this newsletter to a minimum in content, while still offering a lot of valuable information.

If you've missed the last few newsletters due to a heavy workload - be sure to check out the Newsletter Archive to see what you've missed.

This month we'll be wrapping up the series on "A New Year - A New QuickBooks file - Cleaning Up and Getting Automated" and begin with an introduction to the next series on E-Commerce.

Happy Reading......Nancy & Roxanne

The IDNAC Forum/Site
New Resources and Upcoming Features
Dear Andy Advisor & Dear Danny Developer
This months questions for the "Dear Abby's of Integration"
Marketing & Website Tips
Target Marketing & Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Event Planning Tips of the Month
skOOchie Tips - Dave Bodnarchuk
QuickBooks Canadian Edition
Treatment of Meal Expenses in Business - Arlene Arlow

Articles
New Year - New QuickBooks File
Final in a series - By Roxanne Brown
Developer Interview
LeGrand CRM Software, Inc. - Andrew Muollo, Vice President - Sales
Advisor Interview
Target Marketing results increase 50-70% with the implementation of Legrand CRM - Bonnie Nagayama - McWilliams & Associates, Inc.
Developer Interview
Fishbowl Inventory - Chris Mann
Advisor Interview
QuickBooks has moved from being a software to a Business Operating System due to 3rd Party Applications like Fishbowl Inventory - Hart Singh, QBProfessor, LLC
Introduction to Order Management
What is an Order Manager?   Why & When Do I Need One?  Part 1 - by Barney Stone, Stone Edge Technologies, Inc.

The IDNAC Forum
New Resources and Upcoming Features
We wanted to bring everyone's attention to the new FREE & Fee Based resources in both the Advisor and the Developer Center.   One of the best Free Resources you will find is a 10-Day Web Site Design Email Course; it is really awesome and even includes a lot of copy & paste HTML Code ready for you to use, as well as many useful suggestions).

New Fee Based Resources have also been added, including links to purchase "advanced training" manuals for using QuickBooks and the full Web Site Design Course.  The Fee Based Resources are featured through Affiliate Programs IDNAC has enrolled in - as it is necessary to generate some income to continue to maintain and update this site.

Upcoming Features - Speaking of updating this site.....Over the last several months Nancy has asked for volunteers to help create a searchable database for the newsletter articles (as the newsletter archive page is beginning to get quite cumbersome).  Unfortunately, no one has volunteered to help with this project, which is time-consuming; especially if you consider that she is already volunteering 40-50 hours a month on the maintenance and updates to the IDNAC site and forum.   Therefore, Nancy has had to hire someone to implement this feature; and is paying for this out of her own pocket.  If anyone has any ideas on how to fund this site, without requiring subscriptions, we would be very interested in opening this discussion.   Possibly adding additional Fee Based Resources?   If so, what would you like to see?   Please send us your comments.

We anticipate this new feature to be available by the middle of June; and will keep you posted on it's progress.
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Ask the Experts Column
This month's "Dear Abby's of Integration question" is sponsored by Doug Sleeter of The Sleeter Group.   Doug answers the following question:
"In QB's 2006 there are a lot of new file extensions; could you please list/explain what they are?  I know .qbm is for the new portable file, but what is .tlg, .ND, and so on?  What do they do?"
For a complete list of file extensions and what they are, click here
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Marketing & Website Tips - by Andrew Muollo, LeGrand CRM
Target Marketing & Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Target Marketing can significantly contribute to the growth of your business.   Large firms spend millions of dollars and employ highly specialized staff to perform complex market analysis activities.  However, success is not a matter of spending a lot of money or even employing sophisticated staff.  It is, instead, providing staff with the tools necessary to collect and utilize customer information from your customer interactions.  Read the complete article here.....
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Event Planning Tips of the Month
skOOchie Ideas - by Dave Bodnarchuck
Are you planning an event or a get together?  Let these tips help you out!
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QuickBooks Canadian Edition
Common Bookkeeping Questions - By Arlene Arlow
This installment is devoted to the treatment of meal expenses in business: both "meals and entertainment" have limitations for the amount that can be claimed as a business expense.  Read the complete article here.....
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New Year - New QuickBooks File
Fourth in a Series of Articles - by Roxanne Brown
Roxanne wraps up her series on powerful programs to assist you and your clients in the process of creating a new QuickBooks file.  In this final article she talks about Contact Management, Inventory Control, and E-Commerce Solutions.  Read the rest of the article here.
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Developer Interview
Legrand CRM Software, Inc. - Andrew Muollo
The intention of Legrand CRM is to facilitate better business decisions and customer relations by collecting, storing, analysing and having data at the business' fingertips such as contact management, opportunity analysis and storage, forecasting and other functional operations such as campaign management, task management, customer service, and reporting.  Read the rest of the article here.
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Advisor Interview
Using Legrand CRM - by Bonnie Nagayama
We needed a more effective way to organize our contacts that was complete and up-to-date with all critical information.  With everyone scattered nationally, it was imperative that the system be easy to use, available real time without requiring sync procedures, and be scalable as we add new products and services.  Read the rest of the article here.
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Developer Interview
Fishbowl Inventory - by Chris Mann
In 2003, Fishbowl joined the IDN and is now able to add features and functionalities to complement QuickBooks.  The goal now is to keep QuickBooks customers happy, who would have otherwise gone elsewhere, and to attract new clientele to QuickBooks.   With Fishbowl Inventory, businesses can solve inventory needs without leaving the QuickBooks platform.   Read the complete article here.
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Advisor Interview
Using Fishbowl Inventory - by Hart Singh
I tell clients and ProAdvisors a like that QuickBooks has moved from being software to an Operating System - it is the Business Operating System.   There is a whole ecosystem of applications that were written for different industry verticals, but which must integrate with QuickBooks in order to gain greater traction.   Read the rest of the article here.
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Article
Introduction to Order Management - by Barney Stone
What is an Order Manager?  Why & When Do I Need One?  What is an Order Manager?  The short answer - an Order Manager is a program that makes it easy to import data from your on-line shopping cart, process the orders in a timely fashion, import up-to-date product and customer lists and information, manage payments, and synchronize stock levels in real-time between all your sales channels.  Read the rest of the article here.
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